i'll explain. life after politics, or maybe not? with only three days left as secretary of state, hillary clinton talks to cnn about her plans for the future and answers keep changing many. and we'll speak to dan shaughnessy about new allegations of performance enhancing drug abuse in baseball. florida senator bill nelson. the two doctors behind the double arm transplant for a veteran. and the screen writer of "life of pi" will join us. "starting point" begins right now. "stashti i"starting point," violent thunderstorms moving to the east. widespread damage in tennessee. one person is reported dead there, there are reports of a family tractor-trailer lies on its side.

roofs ripped off homes. warnings in effect right now. let's get right to meteorologist indra peterson. >> good morning. right around 4:00 central time, the bulk. activity in the nashville area pushing off to the east. even through middle tennessee, we have tornado warnings in effect. however, it has become a lot more active in the last hour. now we're watching out toward kentucky, east of louisville. continue to have tornado warnings in effect this morning. and even extending to the south, right through alabama. northern portions of alabama, heading out to huntsville. remember, these are quick-moving systems, not much time to take cover, heed the warnings. i want to show you how large of a system this is. look at the severe weather from michigan through louisiana. 1,600 miles of severe weather. it will continue throughout the day. stay right ahead of the cold front. and severe weather will continue to pop as it continues eastward. as we warm things up, heat things up, more instability will be out there. also keep in mind, starting to

see the low or the trough push off a little to the northeast. it will take its time progressing out of here, nonetheless, we'll see the line continue to progress to the east and by this evening, we'll still be talking about the threat for severe weather. really text tending from the mid-atlantic region, straight down to the southeast. we are going to be dealing with the severe weather. that's not the only story behind this. we are going to talk about a lot of cold air in place, so once again, talk about that cold, arctic air diving down to the south. the low on the back side of that low. and temperatures dipping down. keep in mind, temperatures in the 50s. one day later, talk about temperatures, a good 50 degrees cooler. single digits, and, yes, temperatures below freezing in minnesota. >> thank you, indra, for the update. appreciate it. standoff happening right now, the scene in midland city, alabama. a man boarded a school bus yesterday, shot the driver, grabbed a 6-year-old boy, took that boy hostage, then officials say, the suspect took the boy

into an underground bunker, that he had been building for years. right to reporter josh with affiliate wdhn, live on the phone with us from midland city. has the latest. josh, where are we now in the hostage standoff? >> reporter: i can tell you, the suspect and his 6-year-old hostage are held up in that underground bunker on dikes' property in dale county. authorities say even though the child is still being held. he is physically okay. one law enforcement official indicated to us earlier that the little boy has special needs and is, perhaps, autistic. as of now, the fbi is in charge of the operation, which has been going on for over 12 hours. this all started yesterday afternoon when dikes allegedly boarded a dale county school bus and demanded the hostage of one kid. the bus driver resisted that request, and we're told by

witnesses that he moved to protect the kids, and he was shot multiple times by dikes. the bus driver has since died and then since then, dikes and the 6-year-old hostage have been held up in that underground bunker. dikes, in his 60s. a white male. neighbors say he has a history of mental issues. he had a prior brush with the law. court records indicate dikes was arrested in december on a menacing charge and due in court today on that charge, and it's believed that shooting and hostage situation is how connected to that court appearance today. again, the young victim still being held hostage, but is physically okay. this could go on for some time. neighbors say dikes has been building this bunker for a while now, and he has enough supplies to last for several months. >> josh, i have to ask a couple of questions. the first, do we know any details about the relationship between dikes and the 6-year-old boy? are they related in some way?

>> reporter: as of right now, we do not have that information. police have not given us an update on any information for several hours now. but we do not have that information at the time. >> final question. you are being told that the boy is physically okay. how do we know, since he's in an underground bunker? >> reporter: well, i can tell you that police have been communicating with dikes through a pcv pipe that is in the ground. i suppose it's for air. and the boy, who actually takes medication for his autism, got his medication and he's been fed, because dikes has allowed this to happen. >> josh, thank you, we appreciate the update. what a bizarre, bizarre and horrific story. we'll continue to monitor that story as it unfolds over the next hour and maybe even days and weeks. all right. let's talk about finance this morning. good news. investor optimism. >> after five years of the

market rally, we're convinced. all-time highs now, very close to that for the dow jones industrial average. could happen this week. a record shattering $55 billion of new money pumped into stock funds this month. stocks closing higher yesterday. the dow now 15 points, soledad, from 14,000. the highest level in five years, about 200 points shy of an all-time high. >> whoever thought we would say that? dow, 14,000. >> the s & p has doubled since those horrible days. that is most likely what reflects your stocks and 401(k). really close to a record high there as well. couple of things going on here, the fed has been propping up the economy. we know this, for years now, and the fed meeting going on today, more from the fed today. corporate profits coming in. not hiring, but squeezing out money and that's what the dow and the s & p measure, right? not job prospects, but corporate

profitability and that's been doing well and the economy is healing and investors coming back in part because of the housing market is convincing regular people that things are getting better. look at home prices. it's been years that i could say home prices rose 5% year over year, soledad. >> it feels so good. >> does it last? a lot of people say, wow, it looks like we are set up for a fall. when regular people come rushing in, the market falls down. we're in the final stages of a long bull run. but sometimes that can be the most profitable for people. that's why investors coming back in. >> christine, thank you. a damning new report that puts alex rodriguez and several other plays in the center of -- surprise, surprise -- performance-enhancing drugs. they got human growth hormone and other substances from a

south florida anti aging clinic. rodriguez is denying the report. he has denied things in the past, he denied he used peds until he confessed in 2009. john zarrella is following the story for us. >> reporter: tenants at this office building where this anti aging clinic was said there were always fancy cars, always loss of people coming and going from the clinic. but that stopped abruptly a couple weeks ago. it was called biogensis, run out of the office building in coral gables, florida, until two weeks ago when it shut down, the vacant business in the center of another saga of performance-enhancing drugs, p.e.d.s and major league baseball players. a report in the "my kniami new times" says this was a pipeline

to a lot of players. >> biogensis was selling a lot of hgh and a number of other drugs banned in sports. testosterone, anabolic steroids, and the records we've seen indicate that, you know, as for the a population, providing the same kind of drugs to professional@legalities. >> and they are banned substances? >> that's correct. >> reporter: according to major league baseball, three players have been disciplined under the league's joint drug program. in a statement major league you baseball says "we're in the midst of an active investigation and gathering and reviewing information. we will refrain from any further comment until this process is complete." representatives of new york yankee alex rodriguez, identified in the "new times" article, but not named as being disciplined, issued this outright denial. "the news reports about a purported relationship between alex rodriguez and anthony bosch

are not true. alex rodriguez was not bosch's patient. he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him." gio gonzalez, a pitcher also named in the around tweeted "i never used performance-enhancing drugs at any time, nor i ever will. i have never met or spoken with tony bosch." bosch ran the clinic according to "the new times" and others in the building. >> he was the one running the clinic. >> reporter: he used to come by all the time? >> definitely. >> reporter: were there a lot of high-end clients that would come here? >> definitely some expensive vehicles coming in and out. high-end clients i would definitely say. >> reporter: we tried, but not able to reach bosch for comment. the dea wouldn't comment on whether bosch or biogensis was being investigated. major league baseball

reiterated, there was no place in the game for banned substances. but clearly for america's pastime, the issue is far from in the past. you know, it is unclear, what, if anything, is being done to locate tony bosch, if there really is any interest on the part of the drug enforcement administration in talking to bosch. as i said in the piece, not talking about what, if any, investigation into bosch or his company is going on. soledad. >> john zarrella, thank you. coming up, we'll speak with dan shaughnessy of "the boston globe" about this. and business news. >> research in motion unveils the new blackberry 10. this is not it. but r.i.m. shares up 2% in the premarket. we'll tell you about the blackberry 10 smartphone wars. you're watching "starting point." twins. i didn't see them coming.

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let's talk more about a-rod. the scathing new report by the "miami new times," pointing fingers at alex rodriguez as a possible client of this anti aging clinic. the clinic may or may not show they delivered performance enhancing drugs to a-rod and other big named players, let's get to dawn shaughnessy, author of the new book "francona" and a reporter for "the boston globe." what does your gut tell you about this report? >> they always say no. they always deny. we understand that. and, unfortunately, for alex right now in the lance armstrong fallout, people aren't really believing that, plus a-rod has history with this. he -- three, four years ago, 2009, confessed to us very fully at the time. young and immature, talking about transgressions from 2000, 2003. and people cut him slack,

believed him. if this comes out to be true, it won't be good for alex. >> that came, that confession, came after lots of lying about it. >> oh, yeah. he went on "60 minutes" with katie couric who asked him flat out if he used steroids and he said no. and he had cocome back and say he lied. >> they don't really have a lot of corroborating material. would you be more likely -- does it make you disbelieve it more, make you feel like it's reasonable for someone allegedly giving you performance enhancing drugs, keep records with their names. that seems kind of strange to me. >> it could be an elaborate hoax to make somebody look bad. on the other hand, two or three of the people on the list were caught red handed by mlb and did serve 50-dameuspensions. some are known to be dirty. >> the relationship between alex

rodriguez and anthony bosch not true. alex rodriguez, never treated by bosch and never advised by him. how unusual -- that not coming from the yankees, not a-rod himself, coming from i guess some p.r. firm of citric & company. >> i think alex's representatives say there is no truth to the story. this will get dicey with the yankees and mlb. alex rodriguez, five years remaining on a contract that will pay him $114 million. he had hip surgery, declining skill sets. so this could lead to a battle for the yankees to try and get out from under that contract. >> walk me through those options. they wanted to do it anyway what are the options there? >> the options, a big whoa with the baseball players association. they would protect the player as

they always do. but yankees probably want out from under the contract anyway. they might have something to hang that on. >> may be able to force him to try to retire or something, leave voluntarily and take some kind of settlement. ammunition for yankees to use. >> if anything, dan, we're -- we're proven down the road, whoever paid out some kind of settlement, i would assume would have legal grounds to get that back if down the road it were proven to be true, these allegations, right? >> absolutely. try and get your money and this guy has 647 home runs in the big league. he would hit .800 and do it cleanly. that's all behind him now. >> interesting to watch. dawn shaughnessy, great to see you. appreciate it. still ahead, we'll talk more about the new blackberry. christine held one up. not the new one. what it means for r.i.m., of course, and a brand new car recall to tell you about. we will have more than 1 million toyotas and lexuss are

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welcome walk. connie mack is with us, former representative from the great state of florida. cameron russell, on talking about modeling as a career. a/k/a don't do it. great talk. thank you. and christine romans. >> toyota, a big recall. faulty airbags and windshield wipers, airbag issue affects

corresporespon corolla and corolla matrix vehicles, and lexus, 270,000 lexus i.s. models, let's talk about blackberry. research in motion blackberry 10 will be unveiled today. enhanced touch screen technology. something called blackberry balance. business and personal work separate on the same device and a redesigned app world. r.i.m. needs this to be successful. not pretty. soledad says in her technical analysis experience, that does not look good. over the past three years, down 76%. berry share of the smartphone pie continues to get smaller by the month. 5%, bottom right of the screen, down from 20%. >> didn't realize android 67%. and three years ago, android only 20%.

ios, apple operating system, 20% of the market. people love web browsing and they love mobile downloading and stuff that we don't know -- we don't really use your blackberries for. we use this for e-mail, for work. >> the big thing for me, i'm a blackberry user, is the keyboard. i can't use the touch screen to type fast. i wrote a book on a blackberry. imagine that on an iphone? i think having a real keyboard would be relevant. >> and putting out a version of the new blackberry with the keyboard, but they are pushing the touch screen. >> at 10:00, they will unveil all of this and we'll get a good look. ali velshi will have a look at this. >> they need to do something, because of the trend away from it. >> put the graph back up. >> this is the company that addicted us to our e-mail at our

hand. they addicted discuss then lost their way. in a way, such an interesting business story too. the first mover and they lost first mover status. can they get it back? >> leading edge. >> looking forward to that. >> i am very emotionally attached to my blackberry. >> you have two. you don't have one, i have two. >> i actually have three. breaking news about severe weather. see this out of nashville, tennessee? looking at this right now. my goodness, lots of destruction. tornado warnings in effect. update you on the latest on what's happening down south. and the president's plan for immigration reform. he announced it yesterday. florida senator bill nelson, a state that deals with a lot of immigration issues will join us up next to talk about that. back in a moment. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that.

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welcome, everybody. people are being warned to take cover as a line of violent thunderstorms moving into the south. widespread damage in nashville, tennessee. one person dead and reports right now about a family that's trapped. a tractor-trailer is on its side. roofs have been ripped off of homes, a tornado warning in effect right now, joining us by phone is the mt. juliet, tennessee, police spokesperson, sergeant tyler chandler. update me on exactly what is happening where you are. >> yes, ma'am, good morning. this morning, we had some type of weather event move through. not sure exactly if it was a tornado or strong winds. did do significant damage. one building with three stories and the whole third floor ripped off. luckily, there are no injuries to report and it seems like we missed a -- a major bullet. and everyone is okay.

>> so is it limited to that one building that's had the damage, or more widespread than that? >> definitely widespread. damage. the most significant damage would probably be the building missing the third roof. >> do you feel like everybody is accounted for this hour? there are reports in parts of tennessee of people who they cannot find, can't get access to. >> i can't speak for other parts of tennessee in our city, everyone accounted for and everyone is safe, and we're lucky that it is that way and no injuries are reported at this time. >> sergeant tyler chandler, thank you for your time. good luck as you try to clean up after this mess. let's get to meteorologist indra peterson, following the path of these storms. you heard what the sergeant had to say there. sounds to me like they were really very, very lucky. >> they were. in fact, a lot of the instability and severe weather threats right around nashville. you can tell, now we don't

currently have tornado warnings in that area. downgraded to severe thunderstorm warnings. that doesn't mean you don't want to stay aware of your surroundings. you want to continue to be aware of everything going on. so much instability. warning and thunderstorm warning, one after the next. take you out east of lexington, where once again, we continue to see severe thunderstorm warnings, currently not seeing rotation in this line. but a lot of straight line winds and strong gusts out there. farther down to the south. also a warning, just heading off toward the northeast, right around huntsville, expired a minute ago. notice the line. very strong. out wide, a good 1,600 miles of severe weather, it will continue through the afternoon today. >> 1,600 miles. indra, thank you for the update. right to john berman for a look at other stories making news this morning. good morning, soledad. the death toll for the tragic nightclub fire in brazil stands at 235 after a 25-year-old man passed away last night. 74 people remain in critical

condition. the ban it is believed the band's use of pyro tech knicks to blame. they used a cheap flare that was to be used outside. and violence continue in egypt. the army chief is warning clashes could lead to the total collapse of that very young government. dozens have died in six days of protests, marking two years since the fall of the last government. her last week as secretary of state. but hillary clinton sat down to talk about her tenure. jill, this was a pretty interesting interview. >> interesting on a number of levels. some policy, but also just her personal life, you know, this last week, three days to goi. friday says hello to secretary

of state employees. i asked her can you stop? this is what she said. >> i don't know. it's been my whole life. i've had a job ever since i was 13 years old. when i wasn't in school. i was working. >> is it going to be traumatic? your blackberry? >> i don't know. i think it's going to take some adjustment. i've been talking to colleagues who left the government earlier, and the most common thing they say to me is, don't make any decisions, you have no idea how tired you are. and i think there is truth truth to that. >> she might want to work with her family. bill clinton has a clinton global initiative. chelsea has studied international health. maybe they can work together. >> on the subject of big decisions, what did she say about 2016? basically, no plans to run. but she's a lawyer, so look at that word plans, she didn't come

out and say i am not going to run. you can imagine, wants to leave the door open. at this point, she truly has not made a decision. i think we'll continue to, you know, look at this for months or years to go. >> the language keeps evolving. thank you, good to see up. this morning, taking a look at the president's plan to look at immigration. the president laid out princi e principles with a stop at a high school in las vegas. a majority of students. a majority has been laid out by the gang of eight in their bipartisan reform proposal. listen to a bit of it. >> that's what comprehensive immigration reform looks like. smarter enforcement. a pathway to earned citizenship. improvements in the legal immigration system so that we continue to be a magnet for the best and brightest all around

the world. pretty straight forward. >> is it really straight forward? we are joined by senator bill nelson. what do you make of the president's plan? what do you see as the big sticking points between what the president is proposing and the gang of eight are proposing? >> i think he's right on track. this is obviously the answer. you can't deport 11 million people. our economy would collapse, and those who took the position block the border and deport them, they suffered at the polls in the last election. because it's -- it's nonsensical kind of approach. you have to use common sense. and so what this is this is a common sense, moderate position that will solve the problem.

i think there is very little difference between what the president has proposed and what the gang of eight in the senate has p have proposed. >> there is some difference. he did not -- the president this is, did not endorse a guest worker program. border security as trigger to the path to citizenship, that's a difference there. no expedited citizenship process for agricultural workers, we saw that in the gang of eight proposal. we do not see it here. are those big enough to be sticking points and be real problems down the road, as they try to pull these two plans together? >> no. guest workers, agricultural workers, have to be included. border security in order to get the votes in the congress, it's going to have to be included, and the question is, what is the trigger? that is to be worked out. got to be reasonable, got to be common sense.

>> but history tells us, and, you know, congressman connie mack sitting next to me. he knows your state very well and the two of you know each other very well, having run against each other. >> nice to see you, senator. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> history tells us this isn't an easy process. we just have to look back to 2007 i guess and look forward to there, even with george bush, a republican, pushing the proposal, it didn't happen. >> i think you will see -- both sides recognize this is a very important issue, deals request people's lives and also about our security of our country. and so i think the senator was correct when he said the congress will mandate we have border security, the real sticking issue will be as it always is is what to do with the people who are already here, what the path to citizenship is, is it an amnesty approach, how will it be put together?

if it's something that conservatives feel strong enough that upholds our laws, you will see the bill move pretty easily. >> the difference, of course, cameron, is that there was an election, and it went very badly and 71% of latinos voted, in fact, for president obama. obviously that's correlated. >> i think the real issue that no one is talking about is the fact that we probably will extend an h 2 aing aagricultural visa process. and we could have a second class of worker that can't leave their employer. that's a dangerous precedent. >> it's fraught with abuse. not like they had a great history with workers, that's a good point too. >> sarah, can we cut to the chase here. 2007, totally different political landscape, and we had many conservatives absolutely using immigration reform as a way to, frankly, penalize other republicans.

2013, the politics have changed. that's why you have more republicans who are a part of this whole deal. isn't that really the driving force here? why it will be a lot easier than it was six years ago? >> yes. that's what i said at the outset. the election changed that, and a good example is my colleague, marco rubio, who i think has taken a very courageous stand, he is now one of the leaders that will give cover to a lo of the republicans have taken the opposite position. >> here is what he said yesterday. i am concerned by the president's unwillingness to accept enforcement triggers before undocumented immigrants can apply for a green card. that sounds like he has some problems already. >> give him a break. >> okay. >> he's got to cover. just wait until you get to the details. they'll hammer it out. he to go on rush limbaugh and

start convincing rush limbaugh who as recent as last monday said no way, jose. and as a result marco was successful, and by the way, i complimented him as the two of us stood on the floor of the senate yesterday. he will give a lot of cover to republicans who otherwise would choke on this. >> and he complimented you back, commenting you back on your excellent python hunt. >> they are taking over the everglades. >> thank you, senator. we appreciate it. >> thank you, soledad. bye, connie. >> bye, senator. new details about a girl, remember, gunned down for fighting for the right for girls to go to school. we'll hear more about how mal malala's recovery is going. ♪

[ construction sounds ] ♪ [ watch ticking ] [ engine revs ] come in. ♪ got the coffee. that was fast. we're outta here. ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪

welcome back. new information to share on the condition of malala yousefzai. she was shot in the head by the taliban for advocating for

girl's rights and education. doctors this morning say they are planning to rebuild her skull. dan rivers live in london with more on that. that sounds very, very difficult and like a very long process. what do you know about it? >> it does sound quite alarming and difficult, but here in the hospital in birmingham, they say this is a pretty routine procedure, believe it or not. she has a hole in the skull. they mapped her head with the 3-d scanner. we have pictures of the image they have produced. what they have done, they have manufactured a titanium plate that they will put over the hole in the skull and they say that she will be able to lead a pretty normal life after that. they will be a surgical procedure to do an implant to correct the loss of hearing in her left ear as well. after that, they think she could

make a complete recovery pretty much. the doctor explains what's involved. >> very simply speaking this is putting a titanium plate, a specially made, custom made titanium plate over the deficit in her skull, this sort of size in the left-hand side of her skull. clearly this is primarily to offer physical protection to her brain, in the same way as a normal skull would. >> reporter: one of the other specialists involved, nine altogether in these two different procedures, is stephan edmondson. he has been involved in making the titanium plate from the model, 3-d scan of her head. he explained how that was done. >> as you can see here, we have actually got the 3-d model after it was printed.

we devested it, taken the support material off and it gives us a very, very accurate bonnie defect of the skull. our next step would be to take this into the laboratory and start to emulate the piece of bone that has been taken away. >> reporter: so it sounds alarming, but actually they are saying it's quite routine, they do 50 or 60 of these sorts of cranial operations in this hospital each year. they make 120 of these take tan yum plates that go off all around the world this is a worldwide center of excellence for this kind of brain tauma. >> wow, if they could have a full recovery after that kind of damage, that would be incredible. ahead this morning, an early exclusive new look at the ad mercedes will run during the super bowl.

featuring model kate upton.

so you don't need to wait for the super bowl to check out some of the high lie anticipated ads, we've been giving you sneak peeks and this morning an exclusive look at an ad from mercedes-benz introducing the mercedes cla class, here is the ad in its entirety. ♪ >> nice car. >> sure is. >> make a deal with me, kid, you can have the car and everything that goes along with it. ♪ please allow me to introduce myself, i'm a man of wealth ♪

♪ i've been around for a long, long year ♪ ♪ stole many a man's faith, please to meet you, hope you get my name ♪ ♪ oh yeah but what's bustling you is the nature of my name ♪ ♪ oh yeah, get down, baby [ screaming? . [ ♪ >> so what do you say? >> thanks. but i think i got this.

>> this september, set your soul free. the seductive cla starting under $30,000, from mercedes-benz. >> that is an exclusive look at the ad, only the second time they've done an ad for the super bowl. steve kent is president of mercedes-benz. >> good morning. >> the dude has no shot without the car, no shot. >> does he have a shot with the car? >> why do a super bowl ad when mercedes-benz is not known for doing super bowl ads consistently. >> 115 million viewers but for us we had a unique opportunity, introducing a brand new car, it's going to really open up the brand. >> 29-9. >> we felt this was an opportunity to introduce mercedes-benz to a much broader audience to customers who

wouldn't have experienced it. >> does it help it's being played in the mercedes-benz superdome? >> i smiled but the one question the rolling stones music can't come cheap. >> when you play in the super bowl you have to step up your game so nothing comes cheap. between music and between william dafoe and kate upton and usher it adds up but you want to bring your "a" game. >> how much? >> it's an eight-figure commitment but nowadays with teasers and internet. >> you did teasers earlier in the week. the pr company, is it too sexy, the kate upton which was not sexy at all. >> my professional opinion she looks hot but classy. >> this is her area, she knows that. >> this is mercedes-benz, you can't do a carl's jr. ad when you're mercedes-benz. let's have fun, it wasn't her washing the car, it was the guys

doing it for her. >> the parents television council, not a fan, i'm sure you've read this, the ad they say reinforces for millions of wives, daughters and sisters across the country that you use your sex appeal to get what you want, if anything the ad proves we've regressed rather than progressed over the last several years. >> okay, next question. i mean, come on! what? so kate upton is in a dress, not like she's sitting here in a bikin s bikini? >> cameron do you feel the same way the parents television council does? >> i guess i'm worried about cars we have climate issues and can barely pay for sandy so i'm not so much concerned -- >> with the bikini. >> that's my opinion, whatever. >> you're making commercials, you want to get people's

attention and want people to remember the commercial and the brand. >> this is rated "g" look at the prime time televisions and the references you have there. we wanted to have a little bit of fun, had to add edge because we are going younger, bringing our price point down. this is an opportunity to add edge and we have 6 million youtube views. >> it's working. >> steve, nice to have with you us, president and ceo. >> you bringing gifts? >> we're happy to try them out. >> something under the chair like on "oprah"? i'm just checking. >> nice to have you this morning, thanks. we have other news to cover, we're following the severe weather we've been telling but all morning, destruction in tennessee, those pictures, tornado warnings are in effect for that area right now as well. also he says he did it in the past but now some new doping allegations against yankee alex rodriguez and some other baseball stars. the man who wrote "the mitchell

report" about doping in major league baseball former maine senator george mitchell will join us right at the top the hour. now you can. with stayfree ultra thins. flexible layers move with your body while thermocontrol wicks moisture away. keep moving. stayfree.

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siemens. answers. good morning, welcome everybody. our starting point, some developing stories happening right now. first breaking news, severe weather in the south leaving a path of destruction, tornado warnings still in effect there, we're live on the ground tracking that storm for you straight ahead. also a bizarre story of a 6-year-old being held hostage right now in alabama. the crisis is in its 15th hour. the child was taken after a gunman stormed a school bus, killed the bus driver, grabbed the kid and brought him to his underground bunker. we'll update you on what's

happening there. countdown to the opening bell, markets reaching near record highs yesterday, the dow just it 00 points away. how are investoring feeling today. doping in baseball, new allegation this is morning against a number of players including alex rodriguez, what will major league baseball do about it? and a soldier's second chance, a successful transplant of two new arms on a soldier wounded on the battlefield, two of the doctors behind this miraculous surgery join us live. it is wednesday, january 30th and "starting point" begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com all right, everybody, welcome back. we start with breaking news, line of violent thunderstorms tearing through the south. people are being warned literally to take cover. new pictures of the widespread damage. this is nashville, tennessee, a tractor trailer on the side,

roofs have been ripped off of homes. we get to the phone with chief charles shannon director of nashville emergency management. tell me what the damage is like where you are. looks like we're having some audio problems with the chief. chief, are you there? can you hear me? we're updating the story, i'm going to go to indra first, updating on what's happening following the storms as well. indra give us a sense of where the chief is, which is in nashville, they've had some of the worst damage, we've got some pictures from there. can you tell me about what they're experiencing? >> early this morning around 3:00 or 4:00 this morning we had the bulk of the severe weather around memphis. most of that has quieted down but in the last few minutes the activity picked up. the damage out towards memphis and in indiana around greene county, indiana, we have reports of 15 homes damaged in that area. you can tell this is a 1,600 mile stretch of severe weather.

we're gradually starting to see things pick up once again. i want to take you closer and show you some of the areas now continuing to see some tornado warnings. you can start to see a tornado warning developing heading northeast towards rockwood and want to take you up towards kentucky east of lexington here. we do not currently have tornado warnings but still have the severe thunderstorm warnings. going to be a few minutes before we quickly start to see rotation and another tornado warning issued, these are moving fast, 45, even 70 miles per hour. you're not going to have much time once you get the report there. also wanted to look out towards birmingham, you can see severe thunderstorm warnings there. take a look at what's happening, we're seeing storms moving to the east so now first thunderstorm or severe thunderstorm warning headed towards atlanta so we really are seeing things here develop quite quickly and this is going to be the story as we go throughout the day today, we'll warm up throughout the afternoon, going to see a lot more instability and the line of storms just stay ahead of that cold front pushing off to the east. as far as where we'll be looking

at through the evening hours we're talking about the line of storms still affecting us from the mid-atlantic through the kout southeast areas overnight tonight. >> let's get back to chief charles shannon. he's have nashville emergency management as we mentioned. chief, we just looked at where the storms are going and how fast they're moving. what does it look like where you are? >> well actually what we have now is rain left over from the storms that we had last night, actually this morning between 2:00 and 4:00. there was some gusts of winds that actually didn't reach the 120 mark measurement. we had one fatality here in nashville where a tree actually did fall into a house, a makeshift house with the person that was killed. what we're seeing now, we're just now getting into daybreak.

we have people out looking to see how much damage actually occurred. we do know we've had a lot of trees down, electric lines down and some roofs have been blown off. >> we'll keep checking with you throughout the morning as daybreak comes we'll get a better look at the damage. thank you, sir, appreciate your time. other big story we're following this morning is 15 hours and counting, a hostage standoff in alabama involving a suspected gunman and a 6-year-old boy, so started yesterday afternoon, the man boarded a school bus, shot the driver, killed the driver, grabbed a 6-year-old boy, took him hostage. police say the suspect took that boy to an underground bunker that the man had been building for years. want to get right to reporter josh roultonberg, with affiliate dhn. he's live from midland city. have there been any developments? >> reporter: actually as we speak right now, s.w.a.t. has

been walking up the hill from the highway, going towards the bunker. they're speaking with other police officials right next to the bunker. i don't know if they're trying to plan an attack to try and get the boy out, or what, but i do know right now as we reported last hour that jimmy lee dykes still has the little 6-year-old boy inside the bunker on his property, stemming from the alleged bus attack that happened 4:00 yesterday afternoon. >> as we talked about earlier it is unclear if there's any connection between the alleged shooter and the 6-year-old boy, if they're related in any way and there are reports that that little boy is doing fine, that he's been fed and i guess gotten some medicine as well but beyond that it's unclear. what a bizarre story. we'll keep watching that one as well. we're watching wall street, too, where we could hit an all-time high. stocks closed high we are the dow settling 50 points away from the 14,000 mark, 00 points shy

of an all-time high, s&p 500 closed at 1508, 16 points from a record high. christine has a look at that for us. >> good morning, stocks have been rising for five years, it's been a five-year bull market and just now people are starting to get convinced. you see lots of money coming into the market, very close to all-time highs. the dow within 210 points of all-time highs. what is happening here? a couple of things, the fed has been stimulating the economy for many, many months. we'll get the results of a fed meeting, likely hear the fed will continue to do so. corporate profits, companies are reporting they're still making money. they might not be hiring but they're making money and that's what the dow, the s&p and the nasdaq measure how well companies are doing and how investors and shareholders are being rewarded. the economy is slowly healing and at the same time investors are starting to dom back and one of the reasons is because something a tangible thing they can feel, not the jobs market, their house is starting to improve. i want to show you home sales

and home prices, yesterday we saw home prices in november rose 5.5% compared with a year ago. soledad, i have not been able to show a chart like that for years. that's six months in a row of rising home prices, home prices expected to continue to rise this year. now i told thaw the bull is old, long in the tooth but old bulls can still run and that's why more people are coming in, they think there's still more to go for stocks. soledad? >> charts like that i can see why. thank you. we want to introduce congressman mary bono mack, former state rep. from california. what happened to you? >> a little snowboarding accident. top of the hill, it wasn't, it was on the bottom on the ice. >> roland martin. >> i'm a brother, i stay on land. >> cameron russell with us as well. we're talking about the story of yankee slugger alex rodriguez once again facing allegations

that he used performance-enhancing drugs. "miami new times," has a report claiming he got human growth hormone from an anti-aging clinic in miami called biogeneticists. several other big players are also need. that's anthony bosh, reportedly kept sloppy records. cnn has not been able to reach mr. bosh for a comment. dea would not comment on whether bosh or biogenesis are being investigated but there are lots of implications, we want to talk to former senator george mitchell, he authored a famous report on doping in baseball in 2007. it's nice to have with you us this morning. >> thank you. >> what do you make of the report in this newspaper? it has shocking and damning allegations. >> well of course the first thing that must be said is that the report has not been authenticated. it's very dramatic if you read it, raises questions as to why

the person who allegedly authored it would write this kind of stuff in a diary, because it not only implicates the players, of course it implicates him. >> and used real names apparently from what we know about these diaries i guess, the journals that have been kept. there is strangeness. >> the second point is several of the players whose names i mentioned have previously been implicated, and after some periods of denial have admitted that they used them. with rodriguez he has already admitted that he used performance-enhancing drugs but in a prior period in his career and denied it at this time so that remains to be seen. when i issued my report just over four years ago there's a constant battle going on. you have a large illicit industry of people engaged in making these drugs for profit

and the sports industry trying to keep up with them. there was a test to detect steroids and next for a human growth hormone. these people go to others. >> your report was a sweeping recommendations and changes that should take place and now if in fact this report turns out to be true, it won't be that these players were caught, if they're eventually caught, if it turns out to be true, they're not going to be caught by a test. they'll be caught because some employee handed over records, details and a diary. >> the very first recommendation in my report which was adopted by major league baseball was that they create a department of investigatio

investigations, refew were suspended based on drug reports. to their credit major league baseball accepted all of my recommendations and including that one, they now have a very aggressive department of investigations. the problem they face is they're a private organization. they don't have the power of government to compel testimony and so if a person won't speak to them or give them records voluntarily it takes a lot of sort of hard work to get to building a case sometimes impossible, but they're obviously involved in working on this, have been for some time >> senator, major league baseball rules are clear, the player can be suspended if they test positive in terms of a number of games' suspension. the issue here though is that even if, first of all they find this guy, even if one of the players says i did do this what can major league do outside of

being positively tested? >> you can't be suspended without a positive test. >> one of the outcomes of the creation of the department of investigation was to establish a basis and a process for suspensions on evidence that is unrelated to a drug test. i think that would happen if players came forward and said that. that's one of the tensions involved. there's a huge financial incentive for the players. >> of course the contracts are massive. >> this is for all the teams. >> my report was very clear that everyone involved has had some role in permitting this to develop. to its credit, major league baseball is the only major professional sport in our country that authorized a completely independent investigation into its drug testing practices and policies. >> should congress take it up again? is this another time to convene a report and figure out the next steps? because clearly as you say the

upside of cheating is so high that it's sort of worth the risk, right? >> i don't think it's likely to be taken up at this point. i think what will happen is that people will wait and see what develops from this. are these records awe thent dut? will there be gaining of compelling testimony and documents so there can be independently verified the validity of these allegations. many of these players have denied them. of course, the difficulty from the public standpoint is almost everyone in the past about whom allegations have made has denied it. >> like the denial before they admit it. sit down with someone and admit it, it's crazy. >> senator george mitchell, so nice to have you back, sir, appreciate it. interesting to see how this is going to go. we want to bet back to the violent line of thunderstorms on a tear through the south. we've heard of a new tornado warning for atlanta, people all over the region are being warned

to take cover. wxin reporter michael henrik in salisbury, indiana. michael, good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning, soledad. we're in greene county, indiana, and there is a lot of damage, the national weather service is going to have to check out, because they want to figure out if straight line winds did this or if there was a possible tornado touchdown here. there is debris spread all the way out to the road. there are hundreds without power in this part of indiana and i want to show you this. this is unbelievable how far this damage was sprayed across this family's yard. part of their shed lifted and sprayed 40 to 50 yards away, including heavy machinery, the riding loun mawnmower and shotg shells we want to be careful. more than a dozen houses, nobody was injured so we are happy to finish on that note.

>> michael thanks very much for following that for us. we appreciate the update. coming up next the amazing story of a soldier who gets a second chance. doctors who transplanted two new arms on the veteran who lost four limbs serving in iraq. 

welcome back. an amazing story we were telling but yesterday, a veteran who lost both arms and both legs undergoing a double arm transplant. the operation took 13 hours, brendan marrocco is one of seven people in the entire country who has successfully undergone the surgery. he spoke about it yesterday saying his brand new arms are already part of his body. >> i don't even realize it anymore. i've been using the arms or the hands to text and use my computer, and scratch my face and do my hair and. it's just -- they've truly

become a part of my everyday life in the last six weeks and that's the way we want it, so it's good that it's starting early. >> two of the doctors from johns hopkins dr. w.p. andrew lee, chief of plastic surgeon and dr. gerald brandocher is with us as well. nice to have you both. i was stunned to hear brandan say within six weeks he's able to text and doing his hair. have you been surprised by the results or is this exactly what you expected with this remarkabremar remarkable transplantation? >> brendan has done very well and he is a very determined person so i guess we're really not surprised. he's already using cell phones and computers with his new arms, however, we expect much greater functions in the future, that's

nerves regenerating down the arms. >> what is the maximum range of motion. i can't believe he's already texting six weeks after. >> well he probably texted even before that. we expect his elbow joint motion to be quite normal but as the nerves regenerate down the arms, he will gradually regain wrist and eventually finger motion. it's hard to predict exactly how much motion. lot of that depends on the amount of therapy he engages in, but again, he is a hard worker and he's optimistic, so we are encouraged by his progress so far, and we expect a lot in the future from his arms. >> when we hear about livers and kidneys and hearts, we always hear about finding a match. so how do you determine what's a match for arms? >> well, it's even more stringent than an organ because obviously the tissue types and

blood types need to match, but in addition, some of the physical characteristics of arms need to match such as the size and the skin color tone. they need to be close enough to the recipient. >> dr. brandocher, the bone marrow infusion you also did on brendan, why was that necessary and why was it too risky to do surgery for his legs since he's clearly done so well with the arms? >> well, the requirement for hydos multidrug immunos repression and its related side effects have been hampered, broader application of hand and arm transplants for many years. however this new broed kohl designed using donor bone marrow allows us to perform the transplants with low levels of anti-rejection medicine. actually the donor bone marrow creates a fine balance between immune cells from the donor and the recipient that can be

maintained and allow for graft survival with minimal amounts of anti-rejection medication. >> congratulations, dr. lee and dr. brandacre, what an amazing thing. brendan so young, he looks so young and you hope that will help as he moves forward. he's like i texted before, i'm going to text again. >> arm transplant, wow! >> great story. it lifts all of our hearts to see this recovery and to see one of our young warriors do so well and have the attitude he has. >> he was amazing when he was speaking about it yesterday. >> and give props to the docs, that's a major thing. you hear about a heart and kidney, you're talking about two arms? >> they didn't stay at a holiday inn express last night. >> i don't think so, i don't think so. >> i love that. still ahead on "starting point," could this be the answer to blackberry's problems? the new blackberry 10 will be unveiled today. we'll have an early look at the features, that's straight ahead. epp;o/ñ0/pt

welcome back. you're watching "starting point." look at some of the stories trending this morning, the entourage gang coming back for a movie deadline.com reports warner brothers has given the

green light to a big screen version of the show that ran for eight seasons on hbo. the studio is putting a deal for the ensemble cast. no date on the start of production but from the whooping here. >> i loved that show. all seasons, loved "entourage." >> that's going to be good. denver's mayor showing off his mile high moves, take

partisanship efforts. democrat in california has been working hard for many many years with no help from the white house. this would have been a great opportunity for the president to come out, a bipartisan speech bring everybody together in the

congress. the will is truly had there to do it and do it right if it doesn't fall apart before political posturing. >> the last four years it's not like the political climate was there to get this done on both sides of the aisle. the beatdown republicans suffered in terms of not getting hispic votes is a lead on this. >> let me beat them up. my cast against -- >> it's a question of the president leading congress, congress must lead. >> look t really is a tough issue, an emotional issue but when the democrats had control of the house, nothing happened. i'm not blaming the democrats. it's a complicated, tough and emotional policy but there have been leaders in the congress but i wish the president would have come out with a better tone and posturing about bringing people together and getting it done. >> is the reality that because of the election, you heard john mccain say like essentially will be, we lost the election, and is some of this ability to come out

very quickly, the gang of eight is because everybody understands the value of the latino voter and no more time can be wasted in this hostile debate that drives away all immigrant voters. >> there has been a bipartisan group of members of the house and the senate who have been working on this for a long time. i will tell you this. all of these issues we know what these issues are, we know what each side is going to say, where the battle lines are going to be but i think it goes to the hard work that bipartisan members of the congress, house and senate have been working on to bring this to the forefront. it's because of relationships between members of the congress and the senate that they were able to work together to bring something forward. >> where were these debates during the debt ceiling? i feel there are no relationships across the aisle. this is, they shouldn't do things so -- >> some relationships in congress -- >> they're doing things so fast, this is setting an excellent

precedent for the rest of the agenda. >> the latino voteler flee you. >> thank you. >> in you don't resolve this and take, say a year, the next three years to court that latino voter you'll be in a similar position. >> there's no doubt republicans have not done a good job communicating to latino voters and i will say that, but let me say this, the thing that republicans have to do is seize upon this opportunity to get something done, to show the country that we can work together in a bipartisan fashion, that is what's happening. if we want to see it on the debt ceiling it starts by these things where we can agree, where we can move things forward and as mary said which was a good point, dear, that the president can make the tone, either he can create a battle on this or he can try to bring people together. >> well he can, and i'm sorry for interrupting you,

sweetheart, but you can. >> so sweet. >> he is capable of bringing people together. if he changes his rhetoric, he still is in campaign mode. i say this with great respect. and he knows it, but it's like give other members of congress a chance to be a part of the process. >> that's why i keep saying stop asking him lean on it. tell congress this is why you're there. you can lead on this, mcconnell, reid, pelosi, boehner, you lead. >> that's exactly what they did, that's exactly what they did. >> cool. >> the debate as you can tell heated at times. thanks guys, i appreciate that. ahead we'll talk more about alex rodriguez and several other major league baseball players named in the new doping scandal. we'll look at just how dangerous these performance-enhancing drugs, the peds really are. they said it would be impossible to make this book into a movie so how did the surreal story of "life of pi" make it to the big screen?

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welcome back to "starting point." i'm christine romans. this just in, the economy shrank at the end of the year. it shrank, that was not expected. the government reports fourth quarter gdp decreased 0.1%, again that's a decline in economic growth in the united states, that's compared to the 3.1% growth in the third quarter, you saw defense spending down, federal government spending down, concerns about hurricane sandy holding back the economy and also corporate uncertainty over the fiscal cliff.

again, u.s. economic growth negative at the end of the year. let me put that in perspective for you, the first decline since 2009 and it shows the economy slowed dramatically from the third quarter, when you had economic growth of 3.1%, and it's dramatically slower than a year ago when you had 4% growth. here's something interesting, a gauge of hiring though was strong. adp says private sector employers added 192,000 jobs in january, mostly small businesses and lower wage service sector jobs. u.s. stock futures are lower, they had been mixed all morning, they're lower after the gdp report. as of yesterday's close the dow was only 210 points away from an all-time high. this report could put on hold that attempt to try to take out that high. the big government jobs report is friday. today is the last day of a two-day fed meeting. facebook reports after the markets close this afternoon so there's an awful lot going on.

the headline gdp negative at the end of the year. blackberry's share of the smartphone pie has 5% of the market. it's hoping the blackberry 10 will reverse its fortunes, that's the other big big story we're following this morning. certainly a shocker in that gdp report. >> shocker is the gdp report and the blackberry only has 5% on the market. >> you're in the 5%. >> i might be the best customer for the blackberry. >> soledad has an eight track at the house, a beta max at the house -- >> mr. martin, careful, getting a little close to the truth here. this morning we've been talking about this new report in the "miami new times" that alleges that alex rodriguez and several other major league players were clients of a florida anti-aging group. elizabeth cohen is in atlanta for us this morning. tell me a little bit more about

these peds and exactly what the risks are for the players and what they could make them do. >> right, soledad there's a whole array of peds, performance-enhancing drugs. the miami report mentioned several but two, human growth hormone and testosterones. so let's go over both of those. human growth hormone is something that is natural that human beings naturally have, it helps kids to grow and the advantages or at least what some athletes would tell you the advantages are is that it reduces fat and increases muscle. however, the potential dangers are bone and muscle pain, diabetes and heart disease, testosterone also something obviously that's natural, both men and women have it. when you take extra testosterone, some athlete also tell thaw it also increases muscle mass, makes you smaller and makes it easier -- makes you stronger and makes it easier for to you recover after a big workout, but the potential

dangers, sleep apnea, heart disease and also if a man already has prostate cancer it may grow that existing prostate cancer more quickly. >> thank you. connie, you're a baseball family, grandfather, famous for player, manager, owner. what do you make of this? i know the "miami new times" is not exactly the final word on any kind of allegations and there are lots of weird questions in this entire thing but i'm curious your perspective. >> baseball has had a long history obviously and there were times in major league baseball that baseball players couldn't stay in hotels in the towns they traveled to, they were kind of rough riders, but for baseball to continue to be a strong game and a national past time they've got to put trust back into the game that people aren't doping. >> how do you do that? >> that people aren't using steroids. >> it's up to the player to not be a step ahead.

>> what drives me crazy about this, we get into congress has hearings on it. this is about baseball. baseball needs to protect its brand. this is -- baseball is a business, and if they want to keep baseball growing in a sport that we can believe in, they're the ones that have to make sure that this stops. it's not going to be something that a hearing in the united states congress is going to solve. >> the steroids help their business. after they had that strike that summer when you had mark mcgwire and sammy sosa breaking the records. it's not just baseball, it's football, it's multiple sports because when you have players who can make millions and millions of dollars they're saying i will get any edge possible. >> they will do that, but if you look at what's happened to sammy sosa and mark mcgwire, they are

not people you hold up and look at and say they've led the way in baseball. >> we have to take a break, actually let's continue debating through the commercial. still ahead we'll talk about the book "life of pi" many thought it was surreal and supernatural it would never be a film. it's an oscar nominated film. we'll talk about that with screenwriter david mcgee. we'll be back in a molt. now yo. with stayfree ultra thins. flexible layers move with your body while thermocontrol wicks moisture away. keep moving. stayfree. while thermocontrol wicks moisture away. i have obligations. cute tobligations, but obligations.g. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses.

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welcome back, everybody. the journey of "live of pi" from page to screen is about as probable as the story's central character, a boy named pi, adrift at sea, a hungry bengal tying we are him. >> "as i was reading the book i thought there was no way it could be made into a movie." here's a little bit of the movie. >> in times like these i'd remember he has as little experience with the real world as i do. we were both raised in a zoo by the same master. now we've been orphaned, left to face our ultimate master together. without richard parker, i would have died by now.

my fear of him keeps me alert, tending to his needs gives my life purpose. >> it clearly worked. "life of pi" has 11 oscar nominations including one for lee and the writer, david mcgee. >> nice to be here. >> i read this book in the hospital when i was delivering my twin boys and remember thinking it was a beautiful, great story but it's so supernatural and so strange, how could you ever possibly turn it into a film? how did you say yes to that? >> well i didn't know if it could be made into a film. i loved reading the book but i wasn't reading it for business, i was reading it for someone. i said to someone this is a great book. they asked if it was a movie i said i don't think so. >> how did you become the screen writer of this movie? >> when ang lee wants to make the movie it's possible. we had a call, went to dinner and talked about the themes and

ang has the ability to take material that most people wouldn't take a second look at and convince studios that he can do it because he can. >> is it critical to narrow it down? i remember oprah in "beloved" it's impossible because you have to really just bring it all down and say look, i know you love the book or love the play but you can't do it all. >> absolutely. any book that runs 300, 400, 500 pages, there's going to be material in it, there's no way you can capture all of that on screen in a two-hour time period. it's probably a tenth of the actual number of words. >> for you it's a discipline. >> it's a discipline, a structure thing, it's finding the essence of the book that you want to bring out. it's not trying to say you're not trying to bring as much of the book to screen as possible. >> the logistics, you have a bengal tiger in a boat with a guy on the water. there are challenges in that. >> that's huge. >> i'd like to point that out.

>> do you have to keep in mind the limitations as you're writing the film version? >> the studio an the director will always say just use your imagination and go wild. there will come a point you have to figure out how practically to do something. your first draft which is about any possibility you can think about becomes a draft about reality. we have to turn this into something more doable. >> real tiger or fake tiger? >> the tiger in the film was based on a real tiger and there are real tigers -- >> he's not a real tiger. >> and about 12% of the shots it's a real tiger. 23 shots an actual tiger. the problem is putting a boy and a tiger in the boat at the same time. >> yes. >> problematic. >> and you have the real actor a young man brand new to acting. >> he didn't know how to swim before this, forget acting. he had gone to an audition in delhi with his brother who was the one who was actually auditi auditioning. he had no intention of

auditioning but the casting director saw him said you're the right age, the right type, why don't you read for us. >> wait, he went with his brother and got the job? >> yes, his brother was the one who was actually going to audition. >> he better bring his brother to the oscars with him. >> he's been hanging around. >> what are his chances for the oscars? >> my chances? >> 11 nominations. >> you know, i think we're -- i would be very disappointed if we weren't recognized for the amazing work of the visual artists and things like that. >> you're not just going to say i'm happy just to be nominated. >> no, anyone would want to win but i don't want to spend the next four weeks worrying about what my chances are when i should be having fun going to the parties and stuff. >> okay, what are you going to wear? >> i got the tux all set. i'm good for that. >> so nice to have you. good luck. we can't wait. "end point" is up next. i'm up next, but now i'm singing the heartburn blues.

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it's time for "end point." roland, start us off. >> elections have consequences. there is no doubt the butt kicking the gop took in november plays a critical role to what's happened with